Serpent's Sting
by Tracy Diane Miller
Summary: This very short story is based on "The Psychic".


Serpent's Sting  
  
Summary: This very short story, based on "The Psychic", is a writing challenge recently issued to me by Janet.  
  
Author's Notes: In "The Psychic", the paper directed Gary to go to the zoo to prevent a child from being bitten by a poisonous snake. We learned later that if it weren't for the cell phone Chuck had given him, Gary would have most likely fallen victim to the serpent's sting. One scene shows Gary on the bus searching for the reptile. Claire, the psychic, is also on the bus trying to get Gary to listen to her warning that the snake is near. However, the next scene shows Gary talking to the zoo security guard, a guy who earlier didn't believe our hero when he mentioned the runaway snake. Gary is surprisingly calm given his brush with the snake. Janet's challenge was to write a "missing" scene about Gary's reaction to coming so close to being bitten by the snake. This story "idea" is Janet's who conceived of the challenge. The story that follows is my acceptance of her challenge.  
  
Disclaimer: Early Edition characters belong to whoever created them. No copyright infringement intended. No profit is being made.  
  
Author: Tracy Diane Miller E-mail address: tdmiller82@hotmail.com  
  
Serpent's Sting  
  
It looked like any other school bus, nothing special really, with its standard and unassuming yellow color and black stripes. But it wasn't any other school bus. This bus would be a vehicle of serious injury, possibly death, if he couldn't prevent the slithering menace poised to attack. The snake certainly would be making no apologies being an emissary of the Grim Reaper.  
  
With an unwelcome and persistent psychic shadowing him, Gary entered the bus determined to prevent the poisonous snake, a black mumba, from attacking the unsuspecting child. He was no fan of snakes. With their slimy skin, incessant hissing, and unforgiving fangs, poisonous snakes could easily reign supreme as the kings of predators. However, he also couldn't let a child be bitten. Sure he was flying by the seat of his pants with this save, a predictable occupational hazard he often discovered when handling the paper, but he had no time to ponder failure. Failure was not an option.  
  
Yet, Claire's presence made preventing this disaster even more challenging. Dubbing him "The Great Gary" and envisioning a lucrative partnership (Psychic & Psychic, Inc. Madame Claire and The Great Gary), visions of dollar signs dancing in her head, Claire had become an obnoxious appendage. She talked a good game with her spiel on communicating with spirits all the while creating the mystical ambiance and lining her wallet with the very real cash she had liberated from trusting dupes. She called what she did earning a living. He called it a fraud.  
  
Her voice behind him was as grating as the proverbial chalk on a black board, the chalk squeaking miserably across the smooth surface just as Claire's voice squeaked across his tolerance. He had to keep his eyes peeled for that snake; he had to concentrate. Her talking wasn't making focusing any easier. Maybe he could just ignore her and she would shut up, he thought to himself. He had no interest in her frivolous chatter right now.  
  
But he should have listened for Claire was warning him about the snake's close proximity. In a split second, he found himself staring into the cold, beady eyes of evil.  
  
Gary recoiled in fear, but it was too late. The snake opened its mouth, wide as unburdened elastic, and bit the hero.  
  
If Gary were waiting to have his lungs filled with poisonous venom, a victim of the serpent's sting, then the gods had other intentions. Whether the Grim Reaper harbored any designs on securing the hero's soul, it would have to wait for another time and place. Instead of feeding on flesh, the snake feasted on the metallic of the cell phone. Ironically, Chuck's gift of the cell phone had served a higher purpose than technological convenience.  
  
He stood on that bus paralyzed even after a zoo official removed the snake. He stood there on that bus paralyzed even after the child's mother boarded the bus for a tearful and grateful reunion with her son. He couldn't move even when Claire's voice, now sounding so far away, told him that he was okay.  
  
He stood there with his heart pounding so loudly that the sound of the methodically pulsating organ seemed like a forceful overture in his head.  
  
So loud.  
  
And even through his clothes he could feel a trail of perspiration raining down his chest.  
  
Then a touch.  
  
Before he knew it, he was lead by the arm by a zoo security guard. Claire followed behind him. The zoo security guard that had earlier dismissed him now marveled at his "psychic" gift.  
  
A few minutes later, his heartbeat returned to normal. His mind felt clear yet he was aware that he had tasted his mortality on that bus. And he had the feeling that this wouldn't be the last time.  
  
The End. 


End file.
